Production of chlorine monoxide gas

ABSTRACT

A process is provided for preparing Cl2O in high yields. A particularly recited, highly reactive, porous open structure form of a suitable alkaline agent, e.g. one having a surface area within the range of about 0.3 to about 5.2 m2/g is reacted with not more than a stoichiometric amount of chlorine gas in the form of a mixture of dry gaseous chlorine and moist diluent gas consisting essentially of air, oxygen, nitrogen, and mixtures thereof, at a temperature of -20*C. to +30*C., preferably at 0*C. to 20*C. The moistened diluting gas may preferably be moistened by passing it through water at a controlled temperature prior to being used as the diluent. One example of suitable alkaline agent is a sodium carbonate of special characteristics, either purchased or produced from commercially available sodium bicarbonate or sodium sesquicarbonate. Another example of suitable alkaline agent is a specially formed sodium carbonate produced from sodium bicarbonate derived from green liquor from a pulp mill.

[ Oct. 21, 1975 1 PRODUCTION OF CIILORINE MONOXIDE GAS [75] Inventor: Walter A. Mueller, Dorval, Canada [73] Assignee: Pulp and Paper Research Institute of Canada, Pointe Claire, Canada 22 Filed: Dec. 14, 1973 21 Appl. N0.Z 424,653

Related U.S. Application Data [63] Continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 168,030, Aug. 2,

1971, abandoned.

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Aug. 5, 1970 United Kingdom 37803/70 [52] U.S. Cl. 423/462; 423/427; 423/438; 423/499; 423/579 [51] Int. Cl. ..C01B 11/02 [58] Field of Search 423/462, 472, 427, 438, 423/499, 579

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,157,524 5/1939 Cady 423/462 2,157,525 5/1939 Cady 423/462 2,240,342 4/1941 Muskat et al 423/474 3,482,934 12/1969 Di Bello et a1 423/427 3,719,745 3/1973 Saeman 423/427 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 765,602 l/l957 United Kingdom 423/427 Primary E.\'aminerEdward Stern Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Depaoli & OBrien [57] ABSTRACT A process is provided for preparing C1 0 in high yields. A particularly recited, highly reactive, porous open structure form of a suitable alkaline agent, e.g. one having a surface area within the range of about 0.3 to about 5.2 m /g is reacted with not more than a stoichiometric amount of chlorine gas in the form of a mixture of dry gaseous chlorine and moist diluent gas consisting essentially of air, oxygen, nitrogen, and mixtures thereof, at a temperature of 20C. to +30C., preferably at 0C. to 20C. The moistened diluting gas may preferably be moistened by passing it through water at a controlled temperature prior to being used as the diluent. One example of suitable alkaline agent is a sodium carbonate of special characteristics, either purchased or produced from commercially available sodium bicarbonate or sodium sesquicarbonate. Another example of suitable alkaline agent is a specially formed sodium carbonate produced from sodium bicarbonate derived from green liquor from a pulp mill.

9 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures Sheet 1 of 6 3,914,397

U.S. Patent Oct. 21, 1975 INVENTOR WALTER AJVIUELLER ATTORNEYS U.S. Patent Oct. 21, 1975 Sheet2of6 3,914,397

iNVENTOR WALTER A-MUELLER BY 7IM,2/M,M@ m

ATTORNEY U.S. Patent 'Oct.21, 1975 Sheet3of6 3,914,397

wa k? Qwu W 2v 2\ w:

mm E g @L W 3 @d w J; Tmwk we? INVENTOR WALTER AMUELLER RNEYS PRODUCTION OF CHLORINE MONOXIDE GAS RELATED APPLICATION This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 168,030, filed Aug. 2, 1971, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a process for the production of chlorine monoxide in high yields. It is particularly concerned with a process for producing the chlorine monoxide gas at an extremely high yield and at a high efficiency of production, heretofore never achieved.

UTILITY OF THE INVENTION A safe process for bleaching a fibrous cellulosic pulp has been developed, which comprises contacting the pulp at high consistency and in the form of fluffed or shredded fibres and fibre aggregates with chlorine monoxide in the gaseous phase. While chlorine monoxide is thus primarily useful in the bleaching of fibrous cellulosic material, it is also useful for the production of calcium hypochlorite and such organic compounds as tert. butyl-hypochlorite.

DEFINITIONS A. As used herein, the term per cent yield is synonymous with chlorine monoxide percentage in the chlorine monoxide-containing portion of the gaseous product, i.e. it is intended to mean per cent of C1 in the gas mixture of Cl O C1 This amount is equal to 100 X (cl O)/[(Cl O) (Cl the amounts of CI O and C1 each being expressed in terms of grams Cl.

B. As used herein, the term efficiency of production is intended to mean 100 X (cl O)/[l/2(Cl O) 1/2(NaCl)], the amounts of CI O and NaCl each being expressed in terms of grams Cl.

C. As used herein, the term consistency is intended to mean its usual, art-accepted meaning, namely oven dried weight DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART The following United States Patents, namely: US. Pat. No. 2,240,342 issued Apr. 29, 1941 to Muskat and Cady; US. Pat. No. 2,157,524 issued May 9, 1939 to Cady; and US. Pat. No. 2,157,525 issued May 9, I939 to Cady described the production of CI O gas by reacting Cl gas with either solid salts or hydroxides of alkali metals. Specifically, a gas mixture of to 25% Cl in air (or N 0 or CO reacted at 20C. to 30C. with sodium carbonate in the presence of 10 to percent water dispersed throughout the solid alkali metal compound, produces CI O gas. It was taught that dry sodium carbonate may also be used either at an ambient temperature of C. to 30C., or at an elevated reaction temperature of 150C. to 200C. This process was efficient but it was far from successful since the yields of CI O in the generated gas mixture of C1 0 and Cl were extremely low, 14 percent at the most.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Advantages and Aims of the Invention An object, then, of one broad aspect of this invention is the provision of a process for preparing Cl O gas on a large scale and in high yields of percent or more, while maintaining a high efficiency of C1 0 production, of 80 percent or more.

An object of another aspect of this invention is the provision of such a process in which the Cl O may be directly recovered in gaseous form and also in a safe manner.

An object of yet another aspect of this invention is the provision of such a process in which the required amount of solids reactant is reduced to a minimum by using a special form of the solids, prepared in such a manner that they are very porous and high reactive, and in which the production of less reactive solids is suppressed.

An object of still another aspect of this invention is the provision of such a process in which the required amount of such solids and of gaseous chlorine reactant is reduced to a minimum by the suppression of such side reactions as the production of chlorates or oxygen.

An object of yet another aspect of this invention is the provision of such a process of improved safety which involves the use of dry solids that react with a gaseous reagent, namely dry chlorine mixed with moistened diluting gas.

Broad Statement of the Invention By a broad aspect of this invention, a process is provided for directly preparing chlorine monoxide in high yields in which the molar ratio of chlorine monoxide is not less than about 80 percent which comprises the combination of reacting (A) a solid compound selected from the group consisting of the carbonates and bicarbonates, of the alkali metals, such solids being in a dry, highly reactive open-structure form, having a surface area within the range of about 0.3 to about 5.2 m /g, with (B) close to, but not substantially more than, about a stoichiometric amount of chlorine gas in the form of dry gaseous chlorine and moist diluent gas consisting essentially of air, oxygen and nitrogen and mixtures thereof, at (C) a temperature of about 20C. to about +30C., while (D) maintaining the pH at 9.5 or higher.

Other Variants of the Invention By another aspect of this invention, the solid compound is sodium carbonate formed by heating sodium bicarbonate to temperatures of about C. to about 550C. while removing the gaseous reaction products so formed.

By still another aspect of this invention, the solid compound is sodium carbonate formed by the steps of: contacting an aqueous green liquor containing, as main components, Na S and Na CO and residual salts including NaCl, Na S O Na SO Na SO and NaOH with carbon dioxide gas; subjecting the tail solution comprising a slurry of NaHCO particles to filtration and returning a fraction of the washed tail solution to be mixed with additional smelt in s separate section of the smelt dissolving tank so as to prevent it mixing with the green liquor; drying and pulverizing the NaHCO and subjecting the NaHCO so formed to the action of heat within the range of about 100C. to about 550C.,

3 while substantially simultaneously removing gases developed, thereby providing a gaseous mixture containing carbon dioxide for use in the carbonation reaction with the green liquor, and finely divided highly porous active sodium carbonate.

By a still further aspect of this invention, the diluent gas has a moisture content of about 5 to about 95 percent relative humidity increasing with decreasing temperature, preferably by passing it through an aqueous medium, most preferably at a temperature of about C.

By a further aspect of this invention, the v/v ratio of moist diluent/C1 0 in the product-gas is at least about 77/23. By yet another aspect of this invention, the v/v ratio of moist diluent/C1 gas in the reactant gas is about 80/20. By still another aspect of this invention, the reaction temperature is about 0C., the partial pressure of water vapour is about 2.5 to 7.0 mm Hg, and the moist mixture gas and dry chlorine gas is maintained at about 30C. to about +30C.

GENERALIZED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION It has now been found that it is possible to produce Cl O gas at a highly improved yield, i.e. chlorine monoxide in the chlorine monoxide-containing portion of the product gases of about 90% or more, while maintaining a high efficiency of Cl O production, i.e. the chlorine monoxide product in the product stream comprising chlorine monoxide and sodium chloride, of about 80 percent or more, by reacting a mixture of a dry chlorine gas and a moistened diluting gas with a highly reactive form of sodium carbonate which has been pretreated to its desired form. This pretreatment may either be done by the mill producing the C1 0 or it may be done by the supplier, by calcining the bicarbonate or the sesquicarbonate, to produce a light soda ash in a process as described in the following specification. The moistened diluting gas can be either oxygen, nitrogen or air, but not carbon dioxide. In particular, it has been found that by pretreating sodium bicarbonate or sodium carbonate containing water of crystallization in a vacuum and/or at elevated temperatures, the salt is converted to a dry, porous, very reactive, sodium carbonate having a strongly enlarged surface area necessary for obtaining the improved yield. Furthermore, the amount of reactive, pretreated solids used is sufficient to satisfy the stoichiometric equation.

It has been discovered that many interrelated parameters are important for preparing Cl O gas in high yields. The solid reagent must be a highly reactive porous form of a suitable alkaline agent. Alkaline agents include sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, sodium sesquicarbonate, potassium carbonate, potassium bicarbonate, potassium sesquicarbonate, lithium carbonate, lithium bicarbonate, lithium sesquicarbonate, sodium phosphate, sodium silicate and potassium silicate. In practice, it is usually sodium carbonate, sodium sesquicarbonate or sodium bicarbonate. Preferably, it is sodium carbonate produced by the decomposition of sodium bicarbonate or sodium sesquicarbonate in a manner to be described hereinafter. To be in highly active, porous form, the solid have a surface area of about 0.3 to about 5.2 m /g and should have a specific gravity (weight per volume of powder) of about 1.06 to about 0.635 g/cm. The amount of such solid reagent required is the stoichiometric amount or even a stoichiometric excess of solids.

The chlorine gas is diluted with moist oxygen, nitrogen or air. Carbon dioxide, which is produced in addition to chlorine monoxide by the reaction of chlorine with sodium carbonate, must not be used as a diluent,

5 and should therefore be avoided or, at least, kept at a very minimum concentration. For safety reasons, the amount of diluent required is sufficient to provide a v/v ratio of diIuent/CI O gas of at least about 77/23. In practice, this may be achieved by having a v/v ratio of lo diluent/C1 of at least about 80/20, since 2Cl cannot produce more than lCl O.

The reaction temperature and contact time are correlated to provide a substantial amount, e.g. about 90 percent or more, of Cl O in the reactant effluent. The

temperature usually ranges from about C. to about +30C., and, optimumly, from about 0C. to about 20C. The contact time for a reaction carried out at about 0C. to about 20C. is about 15 seconds.

The reactions leading to the production of CI O gas 20 according to the process of one embodiment of this invention are generally known:

Cl H O I-ICl HOCI 2HCl Na CO 2NaCl CO H 0 2HOCl CI O H 0 and the overall equation is:

Na2CO3 C12 Water, which is introduced in the reaction by moistening the diluent gas, acts as a catalyst only; it does not appear in the overall equation. In the absence of water in the moistened diluent gas, no C1 0 is produced. Hence, if the solids and the chlorine gas are maintained dry, even the accidental use of 100 percent undiluted chlorine gas would not produce an explosive gas mixture containing over about 23% chlorine monoxide,

while the accidental use of I00 percent, undiluted but moist chlorine gas would, in all likelihood, produce such explosive gas mixture.

In order to reach high efficiency as defined hereinabove, one must also control the side reactions which can take place. If certain catalytic ions, for example, Ni, Co, and/or Cu, are present in the solid, 0 would be produced instead of C1 0, according to the reaction:

2Cl 2NaCO 4NaCl 2CO 0 This reaction is practically eliminated by the removal of these undesirable ions. Another undesirable side reaction occurs as follows:

2NaOC HOCI ZNaCl HCIO The production of these products, i.e. sodium chlorate and chloric acid increases rapidly with the numerical value of the square of the concentration of NaOCl times the concentration of HOCI, i.e. with the content or concentration of CI O, and-follows the overal chemical equation:

3Na CO 3Cl NaClO SNaCl 3C0 This reaction, which occurs in aqueous solution, is due to the inefficient use and control of C1 in the reaction, i.e. the C1 reacted which produces undesirable Cl-containing products which may be designated loss of Cl This side reaction can be controlled by maintaining the reaction at a high pH. As an example, if the reaction temperature is increased from about C. to about 20C., the relative humidity of the gas mixture must be decreased from about 70 to about 20 percent, while maintaining a partial pressure of about 2.5 to about 8 mm Hg water vapour by comparison with 2.5 to 7.0 mm Hg at about 0C., and a pH of about 9.5 or higher by comparison with a pH of about 8.5 or higher at about 0C. in the film of moisture formed on the dry solids. (The pH is measured by withdrawing solid reactant product, dissolving it in water and then measuring the pH of the aqueous solution.) By doing so, the rate of this side reaction is kept low. As mentioned previously, this can be carried out by lowering the CO present in the atmosphere. By incorporating the aforementioned changes in the basic, generally known, chemistry for producing C1 0 gas, applicant has been able to produce and recover Cl O in gas form, either by a batch or by a continuous process in yields, i.e. chlorine monoxide in the chlorine monoxide-containing portion of the product gases, of about 90 100 percent while maintaining a high efficiency of Cl O production, i.e. the chlorine monoxide product in the product stream comprising chlorine monoxide and sodium chloride, of about 80 percent or more, as compared to yields, i.e. chlorine monoxide in the chlorine monoxide-containing portion of the product gases, of about 14 percent achieved by the processes of prior art.

In the case of the pretreatment of NaHCO to provide the highly reactive, porous, open structure of specific gravity (weight per volume of powder) of about 0.635 to about 1.06 and surface area of 0.3 to 5.2, the sodium bicarbonate may be heated to a temperature of from about 100C. to about 550C. for about 1 hour or less depending on the temperature, (namely, the higher the temperature, the less the time), while being swept by gaseous nitrogen to remove the CO and H 0 vapour. On the other hand, it may be heated either under atmospheric pressure or under vacuum, in the presence of the gases formed by the decomposition reaction.

Since, during the pretreatment of sodium bicarbonate, CO is produced in addition to water, it was found desirable to lower the CO in the atmosphere in order to improve the rate of this reaction and to increase the pH level in any films of moisture on the surface of the solids where the reaction occurs.

The present invention may be operated in a manner different from the procedures of the prior art in the manner of recovery of the C1 0. In the past, this was done by dissolving the effluent in water and subsequently regenerating the C1 0. In the present invention, since at least about 90 percent of the Cl reactant has been transformed into Cl O, the product effluent gas, containing about 77 percent or more diluent, with at least about 90 percent of the balance being C1 0, may be used directly as a bleaching agent.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the laboratory equipment for producing C1 0 gas using a batch process according to an aspect of this invention:

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the laboratory equipment for producing Cli O gas using a continuous process according to an aspect of this invention;

FIG. 3 is a flow sheet showing the use of a fluidized bed reactor in a commercial application for producing Cl O gas according to an aspect of this invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic flow diagram of one system, according to an aspect of this invention, for the preparation of chlorine monoxide using, as one reactant, sodium carbonate formed from sodium bicarbonate derived from green liquor from a pulp mill;

FIG. 5 is a graph showing the superior results of the batch process according to an aspect of this invention compared to the procedures of the prior art; and

FIG. 6 is a graph showing the superior results of continuous process according to an aspect of this invention compared to the procedures of the prior art and shown in FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Description of Figure 1 As seen in FIG. 1, the apparatus 10 includes four interconnected water-cooled vessels ll, 12, 13, 14. Each vessel includes an inlet section 15, a plurality of bulbous portions 16, i.e. five, and an outlet section 17. Each vessel also includes a water jacket 18 including cooling water inlet means 19 and water outlet means 20.

Inlet section 15 of reactor 11 is connected, via a gastight stopper 21, to the flared end 22 of an inlet conduit 23. Inlet conduit 23 is bifurcated to provide for the inlet of reactant gas (CI via line 24 and diluent gas (N 0 or air) via line 25 in the proper amounts.

The upper portion of inlet section 15 is packed with glass wool 26, upon which the solid reagent 27 rests, the solid reagent filling the bottom bulbous portion 16 and half the next one. The upper portion of the outlet section 17 of reactor 11 is packed with glass wool 28. The outlet of the outlet section is outwardly flared at 29 to be fitted with a gas-tight plug 30 into which is inserted outlet tube 31.

Vessel 12 is a primary absorption chamber and vessel 13 is a secondary absorption chamber, where the effluent gases from the reaction vessel 11 are contacted countercurrently with carbon tetrachloride. The construction of vessels 12 and 13 is the same.

The inlet sections 152, 153 of vessels 12, 13 are connected, via gas-tight stoppers 321, 322 to the flared ends 331, 332 of bulbous containers 341, 342 respectively. Containers 341, 342 are provided with gas inlet lines 351, 352 and liquid drain lines 361, 362, provided with stopcocks 371, 372 respectively. Bulbous sections 161, 162 of vessels 12, 13 respectively are each filled with inert materials for enhancing gas-liquid contact, and these inert materials may be, for example, small glass cylinders 38.

The outlet sections 171, 172 of vessels 12, 13 respectively, are outwardly flared at 391, 392, to be fitted with gas-tight plugs 401, 402, into which are inserted carbon tetrachloride admitting tubes 411, 412 which 7 extend to the bottom of outlet sections 171, 172, and gas outlet tubes 421, 422, respectively.

Vessel 14 is a final gas washing chamber. The inlet section 154 of vessel 14 is connected, via gas-tight stopper 323 to the flared end 333 of the neck of storage vessel 343. Vessel 343 is provided with gas inlet line 353, and with liquid drain line 363 provided with drain cock 373.

Bulbous sections 163 are packed with small glass cylinders 38. The outlet section 173 is outwardly flared at 393, to be fitted with gas-tight plug 403, into which is inserted solvent admitting tube 413 which extends to the bottom of section 173, and gas exhaust tube 423.

Outlet tube 31 is connected to gas inlet line 351 of bulbous container 341. Outlet tube 421 is connected to gas inlet line 352 of bulbous container 342, and outlet tube 422 is connected to gas inlet 353 of storage vessel 343.

In operation, the reactant gas (C1 in line 24 and diluent gas (N O or air) in line 25 mix in inlet conduit 23 and pass in reactant contact, at the controlled reaction temperature, with solid reactant 27. The effluent gas passes via outlet tube 31 to bulbous container 341. The gas passes, upwardly through primary absorption chamber 12 in countercurrent contact with carbon tetrachloride admitting through tube 411. Cl O and C1 gases are dissolved in the CCl. and may be withdrawn via liquid drain line 361 through drain cock 371.

The effluent gas, substantially depleted in Cl O and C1 passes out of gas outlet tube 421 to bulbous chamber 342. The gas passes upwardly through secondary absorption chamber 13 in countercurrent contact with CCl, admitted through tube 412. The residual gases, C1 and Cl dissolve in the CCL, and they may be withdrawn via liquid drain line 362 via drain cock 372.

The effluent gas passes out of gas outlet tube 422 to storage vessel 343. The gas passes upwardly through gas washing vessel 14 in countercurrent contact with an aqueous solution, of the conventional strength, of NaOH and Na SO The solution in storage vessel 343 is an aqueous solution of NaCl, NaOH, Na SO and Na SO The solution may be drawn off via liquid drain line 363 via drain cock 373. The gas exhausted via gas exhaust line 423 contains no substantial quantities of either C1 or Cl O.

Description of Figure 2 Turning now to FIG. 2, it is seen that FIG. 2 differs from FIG. 1 only in the reaction vessel portion 11. The remainder of the components and their interrelation will not be described again.

Turning to the reaction section 11, it is seen to consist of an elongated cylindrical chamber 50 including a conical base 51 and a dome cap 52. The cylindrical chamber 50 is immersed in a constant temperature bath 53 containing water 54 at the desired temperature.

Solid reactant is fed continuously into chamber 50 by means of screw conveyor 55 discharging at 56 to provide downwardly falling reactant 57. Solid reagent is fed into screw conveyor 55 by means of funnel 58. As the solid reactant 57 falls downwardly in chamber 50, it is reactant with upwardly moving reactant gas/diluent gas, at the required temperature admitted viainlet line 59 to conical base 51. Reactant gas (Cl is admitted via line 60 to mix, at conduit 61 with diluent gas (N O or air) admitted via line 62. The gas mixture passes through main line 63, passes valve 64 and then downwardly in tube 65 through water bath 53 to inlet 59.

A branch line 66 conducts the gas mixture through valve 67 into container 68 into which excess solid reagent falls. Container 68 is connected to reaction chamber 50 by means of outlet tube 71 passing through gastight plug 70 fitted into the flared neck 69 of container 68. Excess solid reagent 57 thus passes through outlet tube 71 to container 68.

Dome 52 is provided with outwardly flared, at 72, outlet tube 73 fitted with gas-tight plug 74 provided with gas outlet tube 75, which is connected to bulbous container 341 in the same manner and for the same purpose as previously fully described for FIG. 1.

Description of Figure 3 For large scale production of C1 0, fluidized bed arrangements may be used for the pretreatment of the solid feed and for the production of C1 0 in the reactor. This may be carried out using the embodiments of this invention as shown in FIG. 3. Dried and ground NaH- CO is fed into the fluidized bed calciner 100 via line 101 where it is exposed to a hot stream of gas via line 102. The hot gas is preferably CO H O which is produced in the calcining reaction in the calciner 100 and heated in heating vessel 103 by means of heater 104 to a temperature within the range of 150C. to 500C. The solids in the calciner 100 are exposed for a time which varies inversely with the temperature and preferably for to 30 minutes at 250C. to 300C. The surplus of the gas mixtures of CO H O produced in the calcining reaction in calciner is cautiously removed via line 105. Some of the excess gas is conveyed via line 106 to reactor 103 to be reheated for further use. The remainder is removed for further processing or waste removal (not shown). The porous Na CO which is produced is withdrawn via line 107 to the top of cooler 108. Cool air is fed in via line 109 and hot air is removed via line 110. The cooled Na CO is withdrawn from cooler 108 via line 111 to the top of the fluidized bed reactor 112. Chlorine gas in line 112 is passed through a conventional dryer 114 and the dry chlorine gas emerges from line 115. Diluting gas which may be N 0 or air is fed via line 116 to an apparatus 117 to control the moisture to within the range of 5% and 95% relative humidity at a saturation which varies directly with decreasing temperature, preferably between 20 percent and 25 percent saturation at 20C. and above 60 percent at 0C. The effluent of controlled moisture diluting gas in line 118 where it is mixed with the dry chlorine gas in line passes to inlet line 119. The mixture of dry Cl and moist diluting gas is fed into the reactor 112 via line 119 and kept at a temperature of 30C. to +30C. The solid reaction product containing NaCl and traces of NaClO Na CO and NaHCO; is withdrawn from the bottom of the reactor 112 via line 120;

The gaseous product of the reaction in fluidized bed reactor 112, comprising C1 0 CO diluting gas is fed directly to the bottom of a bleaching reactor 121 via line 122. Pulp is fed into reactor 121 via inlet 123, and bleached pulp is withdrawn via outlet 124. Diluting gas and CO are withdrawn via line 125.

Description of Figure 4 As mentioned hereinabove, another source of highly reactive porous sodium carbonate may be derived from green liquor from a pulp mill in accordance with a further embodiment of this invention which will be described further with reference to FIG. 4.

Green liquor is an aqueous alkaline solution of smelt containing, as main components, Na S and Na CO usually in amounts of about 25 to 55 grams/liter of Na S and 100 to 140 grams/liter of Na CO Other residual salts are also contained in the green liquor. For example, green liquor may contain NaCl originating from the salt content of the wood and/or from the wash water of the bleaching operations, if this is used for washing brown stock, and Na S O and Na SO and Na SO in concentrations that depend upon the operation of the conventional kraft recovery furnace. A content of from to 25 grams/liter NaOH, as found in green liquor prepared by conventional methods, originates from the use of wash water of dregs and lime mud as make-up water of the green liquor. The reaction of the main components of the green liquor with CO and H S as taught in the Sivola-Lurgi process of US. Pat. Nos. 2,702,763 and 2,730,445 follows the following equation:

Na CO CO H O 2NaHCO Over a wide temperature range, the solubility of any NaHCO obtained from green liquor by complete coversion on Na CO is so low that most of the NaHCO is present as a suspension. This is even more pronounced if the solubility of the sodium bicarbonate is suppressed by the presence of other sodium salts, e.g. NaCl, in high concentration.

In a reactor which receives green liquor from the top and CO, from below, the chemical reaction discussed above leads to an alteration of the chemical composition of the liquor, namely that Na CO in passing downwardly is converted to NaHCO which forms a deposit due to its low solubility in the tail solution which contains mainly residual salts. Consequently, one may remove, from the bottom of the reactor, a slurry of NaH- CO crystals in the tail solution.

Turning now to FIG. 4, the smelt is admitted via inlet line 410 to at least two separate sections 41 la and 41 lb of the smelt dissolving tank 411 where it is initially dissolved in water to form the green liquor. (Smelt is a term well known in the art and represents a mixture of molten salts that collect at the bottom of the recovery furnace.) The green liquor from one of the sections 41lb of the smelt dissolving tank 411 is conducted to a conventional caustic plant via line 4110, while the green liquor from the other section 411a which contains sufficient NaCl to suppress the solubility of NaH- CO efficiently is led via a first outlet line 412 to a filter 413. The outlet from the filter 413 passes via a filtered liquor line 414 to a cooler 415 from whence it is admitted via primary inlet line 416 to a precarbonator 417. In the precarbonator 417, the green liquor is subjected to the primary pre-reaction with carbon dioxide, which is admitted through a gas inlet line 418 and excess gases, including N are removed via a primary gas removal line 419.

The precarbonated green liquor, which may be partially in slurry form, is fed to the top of a reactor 420 through an inlet line 421 where it passes downwardly countercurrently to an upwardly moving gaseous mixture containing carbon dioxide gas admitted at the bottom of the reactor 420 through a reactant gas inlet line 422. Unreacted reaction gas and gaseous products of reaction, e.g. H 8, are removed through a gas outlet line 423 at the top of the reactor 420. The tail solution containing a slurry of NaHCO- is removed from a product removal line 424 at the bottom of the reactor 420 and passes to a water washing tank 425. It is washed with water. The slurry is filtered, preferably by means of a rotating perforated drum 426 and the solid NaH- CO is doctored off by a doctor blade, diagrammatically shown as 427, and passed to a NaHCO dryer 428 via conveyor line 429. A fraction of the filtered aqueous solution (which is a solution containing some NaH- CO NaCl, Na S O Na SO and Na SO and which is known as the tail solution is passed via a recycle line 430 back to section 411a of the smelt dissolving tank 411. From the remaining fraction, the salt may be recovered, or this fraction may be discharged, via line 430a.

The dried NaHCO, is fed via a screw feeder 431 to the top of a calcining chamber 432 where it is calcined as it slowly moves downwardly in the chamber 432. The released gases, containing principally CO and H 0, are removed via a gas outlet line 433 and passed to a primary reaction gas line 434. Additional carbon dioxide gas, as needed, is provided by calcining limestone in a kiln 435 and the gaseous products containing CO H 0 and N are passed through a gas discharge line 436 to mix with the released gases from the NaH- CO calciner 432 in primary reaction gas line 434. These gases pass through a condenser 437, to remove the liquid H O therefrom, and the gases consisting substantially essentially of CO and N are then passed by a gas-conducting line 438 to a primary reactant gas line 422. Here, the gas flow is split so that part of the gas may flow to the reactor 420 and part of the gas may flow to the precarbonator 417.

The finely divided porous NA CO is passed via line 439 to a chlorine monoxide reactor 440 where it is reacted with a gaseous reactant admitted through line 441, comprising dry chlorine gas from line 442 mixed with a moist diluent gas in line 443, e.g. moistened oxygen, air or nitrogen which has been moistened by passing it through water at a controlled temperature prior to being used as a diluent, the reaction taking place at a temperature of 20C. to +30C. in a manner which has previously been fully described and which will not be described hereinafter. The chlorine monoxide gaseous effluent is passed via line 444 directly to a bleach plant, shown diagrammatically as 445, where it is used for the bleaching of pulp, in a manner which has been previously generally described. Caustic soda for the bleaching is admitted through line 446. The other effluent from the chlorine monoxide reactor and consisting essentially of NaCl, Na CO and NaHCO is passed via by-product line 447 to the product effluent line 421 of the precarbonator 417 where it is mixed therewith and eventually passed to the reactor 420.

With respect to bleaching with chlorine monoxide, this generally may take place in five stages, namely first, third and fifth chlorine monoxide stages and second and fourth sodium hydroxide stages. The amounts of chlorine monoxide and sodium hydroxide on an airdry pulp basis are as follows, namely about 3 percent in Cl O in the first stage, about 0.7% Cl O in the third stage and about 0.2% Cl O in the fifth stage, for a total of about 3.9% Cl O; about 3.0% NaOH (about 2.3% Na O) in the second stage, and about 1% NaOH (about 0.78% Na O) in the fourth stage, for a total of about 4.0% NaOH (about 3.1% Na O).

The amount of NaHCO required for the production of Cl O at about 71.5%

(3.9/0.715) (2NaHCO-) efficiency Cl about 10.5% on air-dry pulp.

As has been described hereinabove, it is now taught that C1 0 can be produced efficiently by the reaction of C1 with pure and dry porous finely divided Na CO according to the equation 2C1 Na CO C1 0 2Cl 2Na CO 4NaCl 0 2CO be kept at a minimum. Known catalysts of such side reactions are ions of heavy metals, for example, of nickel, iron and copper, all of which form insoluble sulphides with Na S. Applicant has shown that green liquor from kraft mills can be used for the efficient production of C1 In one experiment for the production of NaHCO CO was bubbled through filtered specimens of settled and unsettled green liquor. The NaHCO obtained settled easily and was filtered off with a high-porosity filter, to be washed with water. Drying at a slightly elevated temperature was followed by an increase of the temperature to a calcining temperature of about 300C. in fifteen minutes. This temperature was kept for fifteen minutes while N was blown through the furnace over the salt being calcined. After this treatment, titration with 0.1 NaCl indicated completed or substantially complete conversion to Na CO Exposure at 14C. of the Na CO produced from settled and filtered green liquor to a gas mixture of 11.5% dry C1 in O 0 being moistened by passing through 12 fed to the bottom of the reactor, followed by controlled carbonization, is subdivided into a deposit of NaHCO and a tail solution containing residual salts such as Na S0 and NaCl. The NaHCO may be calcined to produce porous Na CO which is eminently suitable for the production of C1 0.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION Description of Comparative Experiments A series of Experiments were carried out to provide a basis for comparison between the prior art and the present invention. The Experiments were as follows:

Experiment No. I Example I in U.S. Pat. No.

2,157,524 Experiment No. 11 Example I in U.S. Pat. No.

2,157,525 0 Experiment No. 111 Example 11 in U.S. Pat. No.

2,157,525 Experiment No. IV Example 111 in U.S. Pat. No.

2,157,525 Experiment No. V Example IV in U.S. Pat. No.

2,157,525 Experiment No. V1 Example V in U.S. Pat. No.

2,157,525 Experiment No. V11 The Example in U.S. Pat. No.

(U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,157,524; 2,157,525; and 2,240,342

were previously referred to on page 1).

The results, summarized in Table 1, show that, while in Cadys experiments efficiency of utilization of C1 was quite good, reaching an average of about 76 percent and a maximum of about 100 percent, the per cent yield, i.e. chlorine monoxide in the chlorine monoxide-containing portion of the product gases, was strikingly low, being a maximum of only about 14 percent, with the average being about 7.4 percent.

TABLE 1 Experiment Solid Gas Fed Ratio T Gas Produced Effic- C1 0 in diluting by vol. C1 wt. to C1 C1 0 iency C1 0 C1 solids wt. No. Chemical gas C1 used stoichiom. C. '72 7: mixture I Na CO CO 11.23 30 8.53 1.35 104 14 .H O gas mixture humidified at 16C. 11 NaOH air 25 20:1 1.70:1 20-30 22.5 0.9 72 3.8

0.5% H 0 C1 humidified III Na PO air 25 1.821 20-30 21.25 0.98 52 4.4

.12H,O C1 humidified IV Na CO; CO 25 14.2:1 1.14:1 20-30 22.5 1.06 85 4.5

H 0 C1 humidified V Na SiO air 25 5.64:1 20-30 21.25 1.03 4.6

427: H O C1 humidified V1 Na CO CO 10 15:1 1.34:1 160 0.2

anhydrv C1 humidified V11 Na CO CO 11.2 3O 1.25 90 12.9

dry" gas mixture humidified at 16C not clearly shown in data.

A second set of 19 experiments were carried out to provide a further basis for comparison between the prior art and the present invention.

Experiments VIII XVII were carried out generally as follows, with the differences being evident from the content of Table II.

Na CO powder filled into a glass vessel was stirred, while a moistened mixture of 65 mils per minute Cl diluted with 1000 mils per minute air was passed through. The reacted gas mixture was then passed through three columns in counterflow to CC], (flow of 130 to 140 mils CCI per minute in the first and second column and 400 mils per minute in the third column) to absorb all C1 and C1 0. The content of Na CQ, and 11 of the solids was analyzed before the reaction and that of Na, CO NaHCO NaClO and NaCl after the reaction.

Experiments XVIII XXVI were carried out generally as follows, with the differences being evident from the content of Table II.

The procedure followed in these was the same as in vExperiments VIII XVII, except that 80 to 95 mils the C1 0 ratio figures are up to about percent too high.

The conditions and results of these experiments are summarized in the Tables 11 and III attached hereto. Table 11 describes the types of solids, the content of moisture, the ratio of the experimentally used C1 to the stoichiometric C1 the reaction temperature, the H O in the air used as diluent and in C1 the C1 0 ratio, the ratio 100 (NaClO to (C1 0) and the reacted C1 used to produce (a) undesirable Cl-products and (b) iments vm, IX and xvm to xx were 10 NaClO formation (Exp. VIII XII and XVIII XXI versus XIII XVII and XXII XVI).

c. High C1 surplus versus below stoichiometric C1 (Exp. VIII and IX and XVIII to XX versus X to XVII and XXI to XVI) leads to low C1 0 ratio.

15 d. Large surface area promotes the reaction. If this is obtained by mechanical means, e.g. in a ball mill, the solids become much more sticky than those made porous by calcining.

e. A low content of moisture suppresses the formation of NaHCO as compared to high content of moisture at equal content of residual Na CO f. The results obtained at the combined conditions taught by Cady (moist solids, moist C1 and dry diluent, temperature of 20 to C., high surplus C1 in Exper- 100 X (Cl O)/[(Cl O) (Cl 0 to 15, which is in agreement with Cadys result (3.8 to 14), and the ratio 100 X (NaCl )/(Cl O) is 4 to 20. This result compares with the results obtained at the optimum conditions of the desirable Cl-products, all values of Cl-compounds ex- 30 present invention:' dry solids, dry C1 but moist air,

pressed as content of C1 in grams.

Table 111 lists the quantity of solids, the Na CO and H O of the solids fed, the content of Na CO and NaHCO of the solids obtained, the reaction products as gram C1 of C1 0, C1 NaClO and NaCl, and the total quantity of Cl recovered as (as grams Cl).

temperature close to 0C., no surplus of C1 porous Na CO (Exp. XV to XVII, XXV and XXVI where 100 X (Cl O)/[(Cl O) (Cl 74 to 93.5 and 100 X (NaClO (C1 0) 1.7 to 2.5, while the results at 22C., Exp. XXIII and XIV lead to similar results in the C1 0 ratio: 100 X (C1 O)/(C1 O) (C1 =67 to 83 but the ratio: (NaCIO3)/(CI O) rises to 5.0 to 5.5.

Table 11 Essential Conditions and Results of C1 0 Production C1 0 71 reacted C1 used Solids Surf. Ratio" '/z H O in ratio 100 X to produce Exp. H O area Exp. C1 Temp. 1000 ml l00(Cl O) (NaClO Undesirable No. Type /1 m /g Stoich.Cl C air/min C1 (CI H-(CI O) (C1 0) Cl-products C1 0 VIII L.S.Ash" 10 about 2 1.90 28 0 1.79 0.0 I 100 0 IX L.S.Ash 10 about 2 1.57 28 0 1.79 1.0 0.167 98 2 X L.S.Ash 10 about 2 0.326 28 0 3.7 47.7 0.093 XI Na co cald 0 2.18 0.288 28 1.77 0 78.9 0.074 23 77 X11 Na CO- Calc. 0 2.18 0.286 28 1.79 0 82.3 0.064 23 77 X111 Na CO;, calc. 0 2.18 0.294 22 1.33 0 69.3 0.055 30 XIV Na CO calc. 0 2.18 0.285 22 1.06 0 82.9 0.050 23 77 XV Na CO calc. 0 2.18 0.256 1 0.34 0 80.9 0.023 21 79 XVI Na CO calc. 0 2.18 0.288 1 0.34 0 74.0 0.018 17 83 XVII Na CO Gale. 0 2.18 0.159 1 0.34 0 74.1 0.037 25 XVIII Na CO .H O 14.5 0.33 2.66 28 0 3.5 0.5 20.7 56 44 XIX L.S.Ash 10 about 2 1.72 28 0 1.79 4.1 7.3 48 52 XX L.S.Ash 10 about 2 1.21 28 0 1.79 14.6 4.2 37 63 XXI L.S.Ash 10 about 2 0.270 28 0 3.5 88.1 20 38 62 XXII Na CO XH O 14.5 0.33 0.245 1 0.34 0 59.6 13 2 78 XXIII L.S.Ash 0 about 2 0.249 1 0.34 0 60.0 1.4 3 97 XXIV Na co anh" 0 0.717 0.206 1 0.34 0 70.7 1.3 1 101 XXV Na CO calc 0 2.18 0.258 1 0.34 0 86.0 2.3 6 94 XXVI Na CO calc 0 4.7 0.256 1 0.34 0 93.5 1.8 6 94 Footnotes to Table I1:

(1) LS. Ash light soda ash (2) cz|1c.=calcincd (3) ball milled (4) anh. anhydrous (5) Ratio: Experimental Cl lStoichiometric C1 total C1 grams Na.co,, grams X 1.34 fed Table 111 Additional Data on C1 Production total Solids fed Solids obtained React. Prod. as g C1 g C1 in Exp. Quant. Na CO H O Na CO; NaHCO C1 0 C1 NaClO NaCl reaction No. g 7: L7! on N21 g Cl g Cl g Cl g Cl Products VIII 1.615 89.4 10 62.3 10.1 0.000 3.460 0.008 0.202 3.670 IX 1.615 89.4 10 73.3 8.1 0.030 2.883 0.005 0.128 3.046 X 10 89.4 10 50.9 14.6 1.083 1.180 0.101 1.546 3.910 XI 10 99.0 0 49.6 14.6 1.469. 0.393 0.108 1.858 3.828 X11 10 99.0 0 47.5 16.3 1.455 0.314 0.093, 1.929 3.791 X111 10 99.0 0 54.5 12.3 1.370 0.608 0.705 1.844 3.897 XIV 10 99.0 0 56.2 9.7 1.464 0.302 0.073 1.943 3.782 XV 10 99.0 0 67.2 3.7 1.332 0.315 0.030 1.716 3.393 XV1 10 99.0 0 64.7 5.9 1.580 0.554 0.029 1.759 3.822 XVII 99.0 0 80.6 2.3 1.580 0.553 0.059 2.014 4.206 XV111 1.615 85.09 14.5 72.72 2.01 0.029 5.206 0.006 0.096 5.241 XIX 1.615 89.44 10 41.38 5.0 0.123 2.87 0.009 0.344 3.346 XX 1.615 89.44 10 48.07 5.0 0.260 1.526 0.011 0.559 2.356 XXI 10 89.44 10 31.38 13.19 0.965 0.130 0.193 1.972 3.260 XX11 10 85.09 14.5 54.06 3.61 0.861 0.585 0.1 12 1.248 2.806 XXIII 10 99.44 0 77.17 0.75 1.219 0.814 0.017 1.291 3.343 XIV 10 100.0 0 79.71 0.75 1.156 0.483 0.015 1.106 2.760 XV 10 99.0 0 68.48 1.63 1.510 0.245 0.035 1.660 3.450 XV1 10 99.0 0 64.50 0.92 1.563 0.112 0.028 1.724 3.427

In the development and perfection of the present invention, numerous further experiments, using both batch and continuous processes, were conducted. The following test conditions were held common for all experiments carried out using the batch process:

water bath used to moisten the diluting gas was 0C., which produced a partial pressure of H 0 of 8.2 mm Hg, and the temperature of the chamber was 20C.'The results, shown in Table 2, show a yield, i.e. chlorine monoxide in the chlorine monoxide-containing portion of the product gases, of C1 0 production improved 100 percent over Cadys reported yield of about 14 percent.

These Experiments therefore demonstrate that if the stoichiometric balance is maintained between chlorine gas and the untreated dry solids throughout the reaction, instead of the surplus amount of chlorine gas proposed by the prior art, the yield, i.e. chlorine monoxide in the chlorine monoxide-containing portion of the The amounts of C1 0 and C1 absorbed in the first product gases, is improved to a value approaching two absorption vessels (l2 and 13) were determined by about 26 percent.

TABLE 2 Feed Rate Total Experiment of C12 C12 in Total 72 Efficiency of No. gases fed C120 C12 NaOH NaCI C12 C120 in C120 Production (cc/min) (g) (g) (g) (g) (g) (g) C1 +Cl O xxv111 0 500 1.593 0.258 0.632 0.010 0.670 1.570 26.1 55.6

CI 108 XX1X 0: 500 1.593 0.162 0.815 0.010 0.355 1.342 16.6 62.3

CI 108 XXX 0 500 1.755 0.137 0.71 0.025 0.372 1.244 16.2 51.7

C1 119 XXX1 0 500 1.593 0.254 0.720 0.015 0.426 1.415 28.1 74.7

standard methods of analysis. Under conditions of efficient C1 0 production the remaining gas absorbed in the third vessel 14 was very low and was determined by Volhards method of analysis for chlorine determination.

EXPERIMENTS XXVIII, XXIX, XXX AND XXX1 An untreated form of sodium bicarbonate was reacted using the experimental conditions of Experiments 1 V1 with the exception of maintaining a stoichiometric balance between the amounts of chlorine gas and the pretreated solids. The temperature of the DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLES OF EMBODIMENTS LEADING TO THE PROCESS OF THE INVENTION EXAMPLES l 3 l7 l8 tures ranging between 250C. and 350C. for 20 minprocess over the prior art is given in the graph in FIG. utes to 40 minutes, in stagnant air or N atmosphere; a 5, wherein the following is summarized. (In the descripporous Na CO is formed due to the decomposition and tion of the graph in FIG. Sand in the later description removal of CO and H respectively. of the graph in FIG. 6, the shape of the areas is of no The results, summarized in Table 3, show that when significance, the delineated areas only being included this form of sodium carbonate is exposed to a mixture for the sake of brevity of clarity in referring to the of dry chlorine and CO moistened by being bubbled points on the graph.) through water 25C. and is reacted at 30C., in an atmosphere of CO the yield of C1 0 gas is improved still 1. Tests enclosed by enclosure (a): further by 100 percent, but that it is still not as high as Examples of the prior art, at reaction temperatures of the yield of C1 0 according to the present invention. 30C. with air as the diluent;

TABLE 3 Pretreatment Feed Rate Temp. of Total C12 in Total 7: Eff. of

of of H20 react. Cl Cl CIZO in C120 1 Ex. NaHCO; gases bath chamber fed Cl O Cl NaOH NaCl obtained Cl +CI2O Production No. cc/min. C. C. g. g. g. g. g. g. 71

1 1 h Co,=500 1.504 0.240 0.152 0.042 0.82 1.254 61.2 45.3

155C. C1,: 106 2 1 h C0,=500 25 30 1.593 0.216 0.171 0.040 0.73 1.157 55.1 45.7

180C. C1 108 3 1 h C0,=500 25 30 1.696 0.308 0.142 0.017 0.89 1.357 68.5 51.4

2. Tests enclosed by enclosure (12): EXAMPLES 4 [8 25 Examples of the prior art, at reaction temperatures of The tests of Examples 1 3 were repeated but follow- 20 30C. with CO as a diluent; ing the process of the present invention using 0 and N 3. Tests enclosed by enclosure c): as diluting gases at reaction temperatures varying be- No pretreatment of solid reactant (Na CO NaH- tween 5C. and 30C. The results, shown in Table 4, CO reaction temperature 20C., stoichiometric show that improved yields, i.e. chlorine monoxide in 30 amounts of solid reactant; the chlorine monoxide-containing portion of the prod- 4. Tests enclosed by enclosure (d): uct gases, of about percent were achieved, Na CO pretreated, stoichiometric amounts, carbon while the maximum efficiency of C1 0 production rose dioxide diluent, reaction temperature 20C.; from about 51 percent to about 75 percent. 5. Tests enclosed by enclosure (e):

TABLE 4 Pretreatment Feed rate Temp. of Total CI; in Total Eff. of

of of H20 react. Cl, Cl: CI,O C Ex. NaHCO gases bath chamber fed C120 Cl NaOH NaCl obtained in Production No. cc/min C C g g g g g g Cl, C1 0 71 175C C1 1 10 5 1 h N,=500 0 30 1.6667 0.351 0.0475 0.004 1.10 1.5025 88.19 48.35

175C. Cl 113 6 1 h N,=500 0 20 1.198 0.277 0.007 0.002 0.689 0.975 97.5 57.4

175C. C1 7 1 h N,=500 0 20 1.633 0.437 0.005 0.004 1.06 1.506 98.9 58.4

175C. C1 =117 8 1 h 0 =500 0 5 1.54 0.443 0.042 0.004 0.73 1.219 91.3 75.5

175C. C1 104 9 1 h N,=500 0 12 1.740 0.493 0.014 0.004 0.886 1.397 97.2 714 175C. C1 118 10 1 h 0 =500 0 12 1.549 0.480 0.028 0.004 0.83 1.342 94.5 73.3

175C. C1 105 11 1 h o =500 0 20 1.622 0.525 0.008 0.003 0.99 1.526 98.5 69.3

175C. CI, I10 12 1 h N,=500 0 5 1.622 0.459 0.055 0.002 0.850 1.366 89.9 73.0

175C. C1,= 110 13 1h C in N2 O=500 0 20 1.519 0.391 0 0.002 0.957 1.350 100.0 58.1

C1 103 14 1h 150C in N2 0 =500 0 20 1.652 0.417 0 0.001 0.975 1.393 100.0 59.9

C1 1 12 15 lOm 200C in N2 o2=500 0 20 1.800 0.515 0.029 0.004 1.046 1.594 94.7 66.0

C12 122 16 1h C in N2 o,=500 0 20 1.564 0.427 0.011 0.001 0.798 1.237 97.5 69.8

C12 106 17 20111 175C in N2 0 =500 0 20 1.726 0.554 0.025 0.003 0.993 1.575 95.7 71.6

C1 117 18 20111 I50C in N 0 =500 0 20 1.711 0.552 0.028 0.003 0.993 1.576 95.1 71.4

Na CO pretreated, stoichiometric amounts, carbon DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE 65 dioxide diluent, reaction temperature 5C.;

INVENTION WITH REFERENCE TO FIG. 5 Tests enclosed by enclosure 0):

A summary of the superior results of the process of Na- CO pretreated, stoichiometric amounts, carbon one aspect of the present invention applied as a batch dioxide diluent, reaction temperature 30C.;

or nitrogen diluents, reaction temperature 12C.

and; 10. Tests enclosed by enclosure (1'):

Na CO pretreated, stoichiometric amounts, oxygen or nitrogen diluents, reaction temperature 5C.

DESCRIPTION OF FURTHER EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION A further series of experiments were carried out to show the utility of another aspect of the process of this invention, namely a process for the continuous production of C1 0.

A first series of tests was directed to a study of the processes of bicarbonate pretreatment. Specimens of purchased sodium bicarbonate (Power, Reagent quality of Anachemic Chemicals) were exposed to various temperatures between 175C. and 500C. for various periods of time. The effects of this exposure on decomposition and surface area of the salt were determined after this exposure. The extent of decomposition of NaHCO to porous Na CO CO H O was determined by titration with O.] N HCl while the surface area (per gram of salt) was measured by the standard nitrogen adsorption techniques. Results indicate that complete decomposition and maximum surface area of the salt (5.2 m /g) is achieved by heating for 90 minutes at 250C. and also by heating for 30 minutes at 300C. (4.8 m /g). These figures represent only the time of exposure of NaHCO powder to the maximum temperature, excluding the time of exposure to rising temperatures.

With further increasing reaction temperatures, the maximum surface area obtained by calcining was reached earlier but remained below the values reached when the calcining was carried out at 250C. to 300C. For example, at 400C. the maximum area was 3.1 m /g determined after 7 minutes exposure and at 500C. the maximum area was 1.1 m lg reached after 2.5 minutes exposure. With further extended time, e.g. to 20 or 40 minutes at 400C, the surface area dropped, respectively, to 1.8 and 0.7 m /g, and at 500C. the periods of heating were 5 and 10 minutes at which surface areas of 1.0 and 0.3 m /g respectively, were obtained.

In order to determine the performance of pretreated Na CO in the production of C1 0, a second set of experiments was carried out. Experimental data of some of these experiments are tabulated in Table 5. The following observations may be made with respect to Table 5:

l. The amount of C1 0 produced (in grams) in 70 min- 20 25 g Na CO represents a measure of the total amount of C1 0 obtainable in short periods of exposure.

2. The yield in C1 0 in the mixtures of C1 C1 0 achieved during the period of maximum yield represents a measure of the quality of the gas mixture obtainable.

3. The per cent efficiency of C1 0 production as per cent of the theoretically obtainable C1 0 is expressed 10 as 100 X (Cl O)/( /2 C1 k NaCl). The values in the Table are given as gram Cl.

4. The ratio of the Cl contents of (Cl O)(NaCl0 is inversely proportional to the fraction of C1 lost in Na- CIO production (which is the main cause of C1 loss under the selected test conditions). Improved performance is expressed by increased values in the figures given in these four numbered paragraphs. Optimum performance is indicated by an optimum value of the product of the figures given in the first three of these four numbered paragraphs. The figures given in the fourth of these four numbered paragraphs, which represents the main cause of loss, as expressed by decreasing efficiency, is given to show clearly the losses in the system, and its effect is indicated in the figures denoting efficiency.

The operating conditions for experiments Nos. 101 to 107 (Table 5) were arranged to derive the total quantity and the optimum yield and efficiency of C1 0 production in a continuous reactor at 20C., using Na ened by bubbling the gas through a water column at 0C. The highest yield and efficiency of C1 0 production resulted in pretreatment temperatures of 250 300C.; exposure time of 30 minutes, and at a C1 feed rate of 105 108 cc/min.

By improving cooling of the water used for the moistening of oxygen, a slight decrease in moisture content of the diluting gas was obtained. This improvement resulted in a higher efficiency of production (Experiments 108 109 Table 5 Group B) and the total production of C1 0 rose substantially.

Experiments 110 and 111 (Table 5 Group C), Experiments l 12 and 1 13 (Table 5 Group D) and Experiments 114 and 115 (Table 5 Group E) were carried out making use of the improved cooling arrangement 50 while the temperature of the reactor was lowered to 6C. with an accompanying increase of the feed rate of C1 from 58 to 82 and finally to 110 cc. Cl /min., improved values of C1 0 production and especially of efficiency of production were observed, whereas the yield 55 decreased slightly. Lowering the reaction temperature to 0C. and increasing the feed rate of C1 to cc. Cl /min. (Experiment 1 l7 Table 5 Group G and Experiments 118 and 119 Table 5 Group H) did not result in any further improvement of C1 0 production.

utes by reaction of the given C1 0 H O gas with 60 TABLE 5 Experiment Pretreatment Feed rates H O Reactor C1 0 RESULTS Ratio Eff. of C1 vapour Produced of in temp time cc/min press Temp (expressed CI O in C1 0 C1 0 No. Group C. min 0 C1 mm Hg C. in g. Cl) Cl +Cl O Prod. NaClO:

TAB LE 5 continued Experiment Pretreatment Feed rates H O Reactor C1 RESULTS Ratio Eff. of Cl vapour Produced Z of in temp time cc/min press Temp (expressed C1 0 in C1 0 C1 0 No. Group C. min 0 C1 mm Hg C. in g. Cl) Cl +Cl O Prod. NaClO 102 A 200 30 860 105 8.2 20 2.77 98 73 11.4 103 A 250 30 860 108 8.2 20 3.23 100 69 8.7 104 A 300 30 860 108 8.2 20 3.06 90 70 10.0 105 A 400 10 860 103 8.2 20 3.41 94 64 7.7 106 A 500 860 114 8.2 20 2.14 92 68 7.7 107 500 860 106 8.2 0.63 42 71 11.8 108 B 300 860 113 6.7 20 4.28 82 79 11.5 109 B 300 30 860 107 6.7 20 4.09 87 77 11.1 110 C 300 30 860 57 6.7 6 4.26 100 78 11.9 111 C 300 30 860 60 6.7 6 4.42 97 78 12.0 112 D 300 30 860 82 6.7 6 5.70 95 81 14.4 113 D 300 30 860 82 6.7 6 5.65 98 80 14.0 114 E 300 30 860 112 6.7 6 5.88 94 85 16.0 115 E 300 30 860 108 6.7 6 5.83 95 83 15.2 116 F 300 30 860 85 4.2 6 5.55 95 83 15.5 117 G 300 30 860 85 6.7 0 5.61 91 80 14.5 118 H 300 30 860 110 4.2 0 5.82 92 84 17.6 H 300 30 860 150 4.2 0 5.02 84 85 20.0 1 19 All experiments were carried out for 70 minutes time. H,O vapour pressure of oxygen. used as diluent. Yield reported is maximum observed during at least 10 minutes of 70-minute run.

DESCRIPTION OF FURTHER EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION WITH REFERENCE TO FIG. 6

A summary of the excellent results of the present invention in continuous operation is given in the graph of FIG. 6, wherein the following is summarized:

l. Tests enclosed by enclosure (A):

Na CO pretreated at temperatures between 175 and 500C., stoichiometric amounts, oxygen diluent 860 cc/minute moistened by 8.2 mm Hg H O vapour pressure, chlorine 97 to 1 14 cc/minute, reactor temperature 20C.

2. Tests enclosed by enclosure (B):

Na CO pretreated at 300C. for 30 minutes, stoichiometric amounts, oxygen diluent 860 cc/minute moistened by 6.7 mm Hg H O vapour pressure, chlorine 107 to 113 cc/minute, reactor temperature 20C.

3. Tests enclosed by enclosure (C):

Na CO pretreated at 300C. for 30 minutes, stoichiometric amounts, oxygen diluent 860 cc/minute moistened by 6.7 mm Hg H O vapour pressure, chlorine 57 to 60 cc/minute, reactor temperature 6C. 4. Tests enclosed by enclosure (D):

Na CO pretreated at 300C. for 30 minutes, stoichiometric amounts, oxygen diluent =cc/minute moistened by 6.7 mm Hg H O vapour pressure, chlorine 82 cc/minute, reactor temperature 6C.

5. Tests enclosed by enclosure (E):

Na CO pretreated at 300C. for 30 minutes, stoichiometric amounts, oxygen diluent 860 cc/minute, moistened by 6.7 mm Hg H O vapour pressure, chlorine 108 to 112 cc/minute, reactor temperature 6C.

6. Tests enclosed by enclosure (F):

Na CO pretreated at 300C. for 30 minutes, stoichiometric amounts, oxygen diluent 860 cc/minute, moistened by 4.2 mm Hg H O vapour pressure, which was obtained by bubbling oxygen through sulphuric acid of 1.25 g/cc density cooled from the outside, chlorine 85 cc/minute, reactor temperature 6C.

7. Test enclosed by enclosure (G):

Na CO pretreated at 300C. for 30 minutes, stoichiometric amounts, oxygen diluent 860 cc/minute moistened by 6.7 mm Hg vapour pressure, chlorine cc/minute, reactor temperature 0C. 8. Test enclosed by enclosure (H):

Na CO pretreated at 300C., for 30 minutes, stoichiometric amounts, oxygen diluent 860 cc/minute moistened by 4.2 mm Hg vapour pressure, chlorine 1 10 to cc/minute, reactor temperature 0C.

The preceding examples can be repeated with similar success by substituting the generically and specifically described reactants and operating conditions of this invention for those used in the preceding examples.

From the foregoing description, one skilled in the art can easily ascertain the essential characteristics of this invention, and without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, can make various changes and modifications of the invention to adapt it to various usages and conditions. Consequently, such changes and modifications are properly, equitably, and intended to be, within the full range of equivalence of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A process for directly preparing a chlorine monoxide in high yields in which the molar ratio of chlorine monoxide is not less than about 80% which comprises the combination of:

reacting (A) a solid compound selected from the group consisting of the carbonates and bicarbonates of the alkali metals, such solids being in a dry, highly reactive, porous, open-structure form having a surface area within the range of about 0.3 to about 5.2 m /g and a specific gravity (weight per volume of powder) of about 1.06 to about 0.635 g/ m with (B) close to but not substantially more than a stoichiometric amount of chlorine gas in the form ofa mixture of dry gaseous chlorine and moist diluent gas consisting essentially of air, oxygen and nitrogen, and mixtures thereof, the amount of said diluent being sufficient to provide a v/v ratio of diluent/Cl O of at least 77/23 at (C) a temperature of about 20 C. to about while (D) monitoring the pH to remain at 9.5 or

higher, the pH being measured by withdrawing 23 solid reactant product, dissolving it in water, and measuring the pH of the resulting aqueous solution. 2. The process of claim 1 wherein the highly reactive porous alkaline agent is sodium carbonate formed by heating sodium bicarbonate to temperatures of about 150C. to about 300C. while removing the gaseous reaction products so formed.

3. The process of claim 1 wherein the diluent gas'has a moisture content of about 5 to about 95 percent relative humidity, the relative humidity increasing with decreasing temperature.

4. The process of claim 1 wherein the diluting gas in moistened by passing it through an aqueous medium.

5. The process of claim 1 wherein the diluting gas is moistened by passing it through an aqueous medium at a temperature of about 0C.

6. The process of claim 1 wherein the v/v ratio of moist diluent/C1 gas in the reactant gas is about /20.

7. The process of claim 1 wherein the reaction temperature is about 0C. to about 20C.

8. The process of claim 1 wherein the reaction temperature is about 0C., the partial pressure of water vapour is about 2.5 to 7.0 mm Hg.

9. The process of claim 1 wherein the mixture of moist diluent gas and dry chlorine gas is maintained at a temperature of about 30C. to about +30C. 

1. A PROCESS FOR DIRECTLY PREPARING A CHLORINE MONOXIDE IN WHEN THE MOLAR RATIO OF CHLORINE MONOXIDE IS NOT LESS THAN ABOUT 80% WHICH COMPRISES THE COMBINATION OF: REACTING (A) A SOLID COMPOUND SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING THE CARBONATES AND BICARBONATES OF THE ALKALI METALS, SUCH SOLIDS BEING IN A DRY, HIGHLY REACTIVE, POROUS, OPEN-STRUCTURE FORM HAVING A SURFACE AREA WITHIN THE RANGE OF ABOUT 0.3 TO ABOUT 5.2 M2/G AND A SPECIFIC GRAVITY (WEIGHT PER VOLUME OF POWDER) OF ABOUT 1.06 TO ABOUT 0.635 G/CM3. WITH (B) CLOSE TO BUT NOT SUBSTANTIALLY MORE THAN A STIOCHIOMETRIC AMOUNT OF CHLORINE GAS IN THE FORM OF A MIXTURE OF DRY GASEOUS CHLORINE AND MOIST DILUENT GAS CONSISTING ESSENTIALLY OF AIR, OXYGEN AND NITROGEN, AND MIXTURES THEREOF, THE AMOUNT OF SAID DILUENT BEING SUFFICIENT TO PROVIDE A V/V RATIO OF DILUENT/CL2O OF AT LEAST 77/23 AT (C) A TEMPERATURE OF ABOUT -20*C. TO ABOUT +30*C., WHILE (D) MONITORING THE PH TO REMAIN AT 9.5 OR HIGHER, THE PH BEING MEASURED BY WITHDRAWING SOLID REACTANT PRODUCT, DISSOLVING IT IN WATER, AND MEASURING THE PH OF THE RESULTING AQUEOUS SOLUTION.
 2. The process of claim 1 wherein the highly reactive porous alkaline agent is sodium carbonate formed by heating sodium bicarbonate to temperatures of about 150*C. to about 300*C. while removing the gaseous reaction products so formed.
 3. The process of claim 1 wherein the diluent gas has a moisture content of about 5 to about 95 percent relative humidity, the relative humidity increasing with decreasing temperature.
 4. The process of claim 1 wherein the diluting gas in moistened by passing it through an aqueous medium.
 5. The process of claim 1 wherein the diluting gas is moistened by passing it through an aqueous medium at a temperature of about 0*C.
 6. The process of claim 1 wherein the v/v ratio of moist diluent/Cl2 gas in the reactant gas is about 80/20.
 7. The process of claim 1 wherein the reaction temperature is about 0*C. to about 20*C.
 8. The process of claim 1 wherein the reaction temperature is about 0*C., the partial pressure of water vapour is about 2.5 to 7.0 mm Hg.
 9. The process of claim 1 wherein the mixture of moist diluent gas and dry chlorine gas is maintained at a temperature of about -30*C. to about +30*C. 